Time Tunnel Tips

Let me first set the scene. It is the April 14th 2005, a day in celebration of all things Grey, and Codebreakers gets dragged into the Game Graveyard. However, do not panic, do not despair, a new game has emerged to take its place *expectant pause* … Time Tunnel.

Situated on Neopia’s moon, this game is very similar to my old favourite, Mastermind, where you have to guess a secret code. Time Tunnel is about a secret door that was discovered by Gorix and Cylara during their adventures on Kreludor. The question is ‘what is inside’? Untold treasures, a scary monster, an ancient civilisation or the secret to defeating Dr Sloth and saving Neopia? Who knows?

There are twelve random combinations to get in all, and after you have guessed them, the door opens and you get to see the treasure that is inside. This does limit the time you can play the game, and it makes it rather short, as time matters… but it is still good.

How it works:

Each level unlocks one catch on the door and takes you one step closer to opening it fully. For each level, there is a “secret code” that you have to guess; the code is made up of four coloured stones. To start with, you have four possible colours: white, grey, blue and red. At level 6, you gain an orange stone, and on level 10, you get a purple one. As the levels progress, it gets slightly harder to guess the combination, but it is not impossible if you think logically about it.

To change the colour of the stone you have to click on it. The order the colours cycle in is white -> grey -> blue -> red -> orange -> purple.

To play, you first need to input the combination you want to try, and then press “unlock”. It will then tell you how close you are to guessing the correct code by colouring the little circles next to the code. If the little circle is green, that means you have guessed the stone correctly and it is in the correct position. If the circle is orange, then it is the correct colour but not in the correct place. If it is white, then it is not correct at all. You have twelve goes to guess the correct combination for each level.

Points:

• You get 25 points for completing a level, regardless of how many times it takes you to guess the combination.

• I do not know if there is a bonus for being able to solve it on the first guess, but that would be a nice addition :)

• You get 200 points as a bonus after 12 correct guesses, when the door opens at the end of the game.

• This is a guaranteed 500 points each time you complete the game.

• You also have a maximum of 120 ‘time’ bonus points on each of the twelve levels; the bonus reduces by approximately one point per second you take to guess the combination.

The quicker you solve a level, the more bonus points you get. Therefore, the aim of the game is speed and accuracy. As with any game, you will improve with practise; so the more you play the more chance you have of getting a high score.

My strategy:

I would like to share with you my strategy for playing the game, but you should try whatever works for you. This is an example level:

- Leave all the stones white and press “unlock”. The time bonus should still be on 120 if you are quick.

- The door processes the code and returns one green circle and three white circles.

- This means that there is one white stone in the solution.

- Now try one white stone, and three grey stones; be quick and the time bonus will be around 118.

- The door processes the code and returns an orange circle.

- This means that there are no grey stones in the solution and the white stone is not in the right place.

- Now, move the white stone along one and try three blue stones, and click “unlock”.

- The door processes the code and returns three green circles.

- This means that there is one white stone (in the second position) and two blue stones.

- Try blue, white, blue and red, and click “unlock”.

- The door processes the code and returns two green and two orange circles.

- This means that you have two stones exactly right, and the other two are the right colour but in the wrong place.

- Swap the last blue and red stones, and try blue, white, red and blue, and click “unlock”.

- The door processes and accepts the code, the time bonus and 25 points are added to your score.

- Then you move on to the next code.

With the later levels if you want to solve it more quickly, try two stones of one colour and two stones of another to start with.

In summary, I think that this is a really great game, and I wish you good luck with it :)

I am currently hoping to get in the high scores (currently my highest score is 1725), and maybe get one of those nice shiny trophies (as I did with Codebreakers). Moreover, you never know … at some point, there may also be an avatar for this game (at the time of writing this article, there is not yet an avatar), and it may be one of those game avatars that I am actually able to achieve!

Good luck my fellow Neopians, and thank you for reading my article.

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If you are reading this, then I got my first article in the Neopian Times! So, yay! I also hope to write many more, so keep an eye out for my by-line in the future. Thank you.